Mental health hospital adding beds with rezoning approval from Pima County

Sonora Behavioral Health Hospital will add 48 new beds after the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Monday to approve the rezoning of almost 5 acres adjacent to the facility. The hospital turned away 2,042 people seeking treatment for mental health and substance abuse care in the first five months of the year due to bed shortages.

The behavioral health hospital is located at 6050 N. Corona Road, in the Northwest Medical Center complex near La Cholla Boulevard and Orange Grove Road in Pima County. The existing hospital has 140 beds, according to the project packet .

Supervisor Rex Scott, who represents District 1 which includes the hospital, lauded staff and project leaders for addressing community concerns about the expansion.

“I think that’s a big reason why, when this matter came before the planning and zoning commission, it gained a 10-0 vote in support,” Scott said during the meeting.

Neighbors who previously had a large area of open desert between the hospital and their homes, wrote letters objecting to the expansion.

“We purchased our home in this location to live in a quiet, rural neighborhood. At the time, the property across the wash was already developed with small medical casitas with offices. The expansion of the psychiatric hospital in 2014 negatively affected the quality of life in our adjoining neighborhood. The current topography and natural vegetation of the parcel provide some visual and sound buffer. The additional development of the Parcel in a commercial application will negate all of this and lower the property values of the neighborhood,” Lori OToole wrote in a letter to the county.

The hospital was built in 2000 and expanded in 2016, according to the documents. This addition will avoid a floodplain in the area.

“More than two-thirds of the Expansion Parcel has been set aside as open space, preserving the wash and floodplain, and providing significant natural buffers to the existing residential uses to the east,” according to documents on the rezoning.

The facility is the largest provider for adults needing involuntary mental healthcare in the state and provides short-term inpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment, according to project documents .

Sonora Behavioral Health is the only facility in the state that cares for small children ages 5-11, according to the project packet.

While the additional beds may not fulfill the total need, Acadia Healthcare Company — which operates the facility — said it’s the number they believe they “can safely staff and can physically fit within the Expansion Parcel’s developable area.”

The addition also will include nursing stations, medical offices, meeting rooms, a recreation area and other amenities.

Arizona is one of the worst-ranking states for mental health care in the nation, according to a 2024 report by Mental Health America . The state was No. 50 overall, a ranking that shows the state has a high proportion of residents who need mental health care and lower rates of access to that care.

Additionally it ranked 48th in terms of access to care, which includes “access to insurance, access to treatment, quality and cost of insurance, access to special education, and mental health workforce availability,” according to the report.

Sonora Behavioral Health Hospital is one of 36 free and low cost mental health resources listed on the county website , which includes sites and organizations like Community Bridges, Banner University Medical Center Behavioral Health Clinic and Alcoholics Anonymous.

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